Ophyx ochroptera Guenée, 1852
(one synonym : Thermisia tenebrica Lucas, 1892)
CATOCALINI,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Ophyx ochroptera
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

This Caterpillar was found on

  • Morton Bay Fig ( Ficus macrophylla, MORACEAE ),

    in Bundaberg. It was smooth, tubby, and green with yellow between the segments. The caterpillar grew to a length of about 3 cms.

    Ophyx ochroptera
    (Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

    The wings of the adults are half brown and half yellow. The moths have a striking black prothorax. The moths have a wingspan of about 5 cms.

    Ophyx ochroptera
    (Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Concord, New South Wales)

    It is an inhabitant of rain-forests on the north-east coast of Australia, including

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Ophyx ochroptera
    female, drawing by Achille Guenée, Lépidoptères - Noctuelles
    ,
    in Boisduval & Guenée : Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Atlas (Noctuelites), Plate 22, fig. 1,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 45.11, p. 451.:

    Achille Guenée,
    Ophiusidae,
    in Boisduval & Guenée:
    Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 7 (1852), p. 234, No. 1644, and also Plate 22, fig. 1.

    Thomas P. Lucas,
    On 34 new species of Australian Lepidoptera, with additional localities,
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland,
    Volume 8 (1892), pp. 89-90.


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    (updated 30 May 2013, 15 August 2023)